Google tests clipboard in the sky

Cloudboard, of course

Google is privately testing a new copy-and-paste service for shuttling data between Gmail, Google Docs, and other Googly online services.

At least, that's the word from the not-affiliated-with-Google Google Operating System Blog. Blogger Alex Chitu recently noticed chatter about the service - dubbed CloudBoard - on an internal Google feedback form that has since disappeared.

The Mountain View Chocolate Factory has yet to respond to our request for comment.

As Chitu shows with a screenshot, the feedback form described this mystery CloudBoard as a "server-side clipboard for Google Apps." As an example, it said the beta service could shuttle data between Google Spreadsheets (aka Trix) and Google Docs (aka Writely): "if you copy a formatted cell range in Trix (cell border, colors, etc.) and then paste into Writely, it's transformed into a comparably-styled HTML table."

Currently, you can copy and paste between Google Spreadsheets and Google Docs, but this requires use of your desktop PC clipboard. And Google - as we all know - would rather you avoided the desktop entirely. ®

Update

Google has responded as it usually does in such situations: "We're always working on ways to improve our products and building new features, but we don't have anything to announce right now," reads a statement from a company spokeswoman.